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Israel Retaliates Against Iran With Drones, According To Early Reports

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Israel has reportedly retaliated against Iran, six days after Tehran launched its first-ever direct attack on the country.

US officials told the BBC’s US counterpart, CBS News, that Israeli drones hit Iran early on Friday morning.

Explosions were heard near the Iranian city of Isfahan, according to an Iranian news agency.

However, an official told the Reuters news agency this was caused by the country’s air defence system, which allegedly destroyed three drones.

Early reports suggest the strike was relatively small. None of the military sites were hit and all nuclear facilities are safe, according to Iran.

Israel’s leadership and military had not commented as of early Friday morning.

UK foreign secretary David Cameron previously warned that it was clear Israel “is making a decision to act” despite international attempts to de-escalate.

The attack followed Iran’s decision to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel earlier in the month.

There were no deaths recorded, although a seven-year-old girl was wounded in the attack and a missile caused light damage at an Israeli airbase.

According to Israel, up to 99% of Iran’s missiles were shot down by the country’s Iron Dome defence system, which was boosted by military support from the US, the UK, France and Jordan.

Israel’s military chief of staff Herzi Halevi promised Saturday’s launch would be “met with a response” although he provided no details at the time.

The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, also said he was “leading a diplomatic attack” on Iran earlier this week.

He said he had asked 32 countries to sanction Iran’s missile programme and follow Washington in listing the Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation.

What is the relationship between Israel and Iran?

Tensions between Israel and Iran have been brewing since the latter’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Relations then took a turn for the worse when Israel’s war with in the Palestinian territory of Gaza (against the Iran-backed militants of Hamas) began last October.

Hamas killed 1,200 people on Israeli soil on October 7 and took 253 hostages.

Israel declared war on the militants. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli offensive, according to Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Then, on April 1, an air strike – suspected from Israel – killed two Iranian generals and 11 others in an Syria-based Iranian consular building.

While Israel has still not commented on the attack, Tehran vowed to exact revenge.

Have there been efforts to de-escalate?

The West was urgently trying to deter any further attacks in the run-up to Israel’s retaliation.

UN general secretary Antonio Guterres warned an emergency meeting of the security council that the Middle east was “on the brink”.

Rishi Sunak called for “calm heads to prevail” while Cameron said Israel should be “smart as well as tough” and not retaliate.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said: “We don’t want to see a war with Iran. We don’t want to see a regional conflict.”

However, he added that it was up to Israel to decide “whether and how they’ll respond”.

Joe Biden also told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend that the US would not be joining in with any counter-strike, and that Israel should “take the win”.

Sunak revealed that the major democracies of the G7 were working on taking measures against Iran, too.

Russia, an ally of Iran, has also urged against further escalation, although it stopped short of any direct criticism of Tehran.

Yet, after meeting with Israeli politicians days after Iran’s attack, Cameron said: “It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act.

“We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.”

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to dismiss diplomatic interventions amid Cameron’s meeting.

While thanking the “friends” who stepped in to support the defence of Israel against Iran, he said: “I want to make it clear: we will make our own decisions, and the state of Israel will do everything necessary to protect itself.”

What happens next?

Iran may look to hit back.

Iranian Deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday that Tehran would retaliate “in a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond”.

On Thursday – the day before the attack – Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also warned that Iran’s response to any attack from Israel would be “immediate and at maximum level”.

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‘Do You Think It’s Funny?’: Kay Burley Clashes With Grant Shapps Over Tory Sleaze

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The Sky News presenter grilled the defence secretary after Mark Menzies became the latest Conservative MP to lose the party whip.

He is accused of using Tory campaign funds to pay off “bad people” he claimed had locked him in a flat, as well as for medical bills.

Menzies, the MP for Flyde in Lancashire, denies the allegations but has agreed to “relinquish” the Tory whip while the party investigates the claims, which were first reported by The Times.

As Burley grilled Shapps on the claims, he said: “I thought I was coming on to talk about the situation in Iran and the Middle East.”

Burley replied: “We’ll come to that, Mr Shapps. In the next door constituency of Blackpool South, the whip was removed from Scott Benton over a lobbying scandal.

“Peter Bone, a former Conservative MP, [lost the whip] for sexual bullying, Neil Parish for viewing porn or was it tractors in the chamber of the House of Commons. Chris Pincher allegedly molesting men at the Carlton Club.

“Eight independent MPs, former Tories. What is that saying about your party and the state of British politics this morning.”

Shapps said: “I understand what you’re driving at here. I thought I was coming on to talk about two wars in the world and you’re pressing me about some issues that I’m not particularly close to.”

As the defence secretary appeared to smirk, Burley asked him: “Do you think it’s funny, Mr Shapps?”

He replied: “I don’t think it’s funny, no one said it was funny, Kay.”

Burley said: “You seemed to be smirking about it. I’m asking you about the state of British politics this morning.”

The minister responded: “I’m not, you’re just pursuing a line of questioning about something which I didn’t come on to talk about because there two world wars, wars in the world, going on.”

Burley then interrupted him to point out: “They’re not world wars at the moment, Mr Shapps, and I’ll come onto those.

“I want to ask you about your party’s previous Tory MPs. At least eight of them are now independent MPs and I’ve listed why they are not any longer representing their constituencies as members of the Conservative Party.

“I’m asking you what people in those constituencies should be thinking about the Conservative Party ahead of the next general election.”

A clearly-annoyed Shapps replied: “I think you’re trying to draw a thread between all of them. There are MPs from other parties who have experienced similar problems or misdemeanours and it’s right that there are processes in place, but I can’t really add much to this.”

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‘Car Crash Answer’: Tory Minister Roasted Over Bizarre Rwanda Flights Remark

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A Tory minister has been slammed on social media after she gave a bizarre answer on when deportation flights to Rwanda will eventually take off.

Laura Trott insisted planes taking asylum seekers to the east African country will be in the air in the spring – then refused to say when that was.

The awkward exchange took place on Sky News this morning as MPs and peers prepare for another day of wrangling over Rishi Sunak’s flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill.

Peers last night passed four more amendments watering down the controversial legislation, but those changes will be defeated in the House of Commons later today as the parliamentary “ping-pong” over the bill continues.

Presenter Kay Burley asked Trott: “Who is going to fly these people to Rwanda?”

The Treasury minister replied: “We are working on operationalising this, but we’re not going to go into details on how we’re going to do that.

“We will be ready for flights to take off in the spring, when the legislation passes.”

Burley then asked her: “When does spring mean to you? We’re cantering towards May now.”

Laughing, Trott replied: “Well there’s lots of definitions of spring, but we’re hoping to get them up and running as quickly as possible.”

The minister’s answer did not land well with users of X (formerly Twitter).

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Chris Mason Skewers Liz Truss For Not ‘Lasting Longer Than A Lettuce’

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Chris Mason clashed with Liz Truss over whether the public cared about her “lasting less time than a lettuce”.

The BBC’s political editor said the UK had been left “an international laughing stock” by her 49-day stint as prime minister.

As she battled to survive in No.10, the Daily Star began a stunt to see whether she could outlast a lettuce. She didn’t.

In an interview for a BBC podcast, Mason told Truss: “Your time as prime minister left the UK as an international laughing stock.”

The ex-PM replied: “Well I don’t think that’s true.”

Mason hit back: “All the stuff about lasting less time than a lettuce.”

Truss described that as “pathetic point scoring”.

She added: “This is the kind of thing that obsesses what I describe as the London elite. What do other people think of me? What’s Brtain’s international standing?

“Britain’s international standing will be improved …”

But Mason interrupted her to say: “It’s not just people in wine bars in London who were interested in whether or not a prime minister lasted longer than a lettuce.

“People could see there was a situation where you were humiliated and so people felt that the country was humiliated.”

Truss replied: “I put forward what were perfectly rational policies that I’d won a leadership election on.”

But Mason told her: “The reality is that it blew up.”

The Daily Star’s gimmick became an internet sensation during Truss’s 49 days as PM.

It was inspired by an article in The Economic, which said: “Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th.

“She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd.

“Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the Queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce.”

The Daily Star set up a live action cam on YouTube with a real (60p) lettuce next to a picture of Truss to see which would last longer.

Asked at a conference in Dublin last year whether she could now see “the funny side”, Truss said: “I don’t think it’s funny, I just think it’s puerile.”

However, she had earlier said “the irreverence of the media in Britain is a good thing on the whole”.

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‘Dimbulb’ Trump Torched After Rambling Attempt To Explain Gettysburg Goes Wrong

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Donald Trump’s attempt to explain the Battle of Gettysburg took some strange verbal detours ― and his critics were quick to call him out over it.

“Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was. The Battle of Gettysburg,” the former president said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. “What an unbelievable, I mean it was so much, and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways.”

“Gettysburg. Wow. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to look and to watch. And the statement of Robert E. Lee ― who’s no longer in favour, did you ever notice that? No longer in favour ― ‘Never fight uphill, me boys, never fight uphill.’ They were fighting uphill. He said, ‘Wow, that was a big mistake.’ He lost his great general, and they were fighting. ‘Never fight uphill, me boys!’ But it was too late.”

The ramble was made even more surreal when someone just over Trump’s left shoulder began making odd faces midway through:

But even his critics were left perplexed by his attempt to describe one of the most famous battles in American history:

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‘Absolutely Nuts’: Boris Johnson Launches Furious Attack On Rishi Sunak

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Boris Johnson has launched a furious attack on Rishi Sunak’s “absolutely nuts” policies as prime minister.

The former PM took aim at Sunak’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations and also suggested the government is not spending enough on defence.

Johnson’s comments, at a conference in Canada, are the latest salvo in his ongoing feud with the man he believes plotted to bring him down as prime minister.

Sunak announced at last autumn’s Tory Party conference in Birmingham that anyone currently aged 14 or under would never be able to buy tobacco products in their life.

The measure has sparked a backlash within his own party, with dozens of Conservative MPs expected to vote against the plan when it comes to parliament next week.

Johnson said some of Sunak’s policies that are “being done in the name of conservatism” are “absolutely, absolutely nuts”.

He said: “I see my beloved party… we’re banning cigars. And what is the point? The party of Winston Churchill wants a ban. I mean, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.”

On defence spending, Johnson said: “Now is the moment for an even more robust posture.

“We all need to recognise the world is more uncertain, more dangerous, we all need frankly to be spending more on defence — that goes for the UK as well as everybody else.”

Johnson’s remarks come just two weeks after Sunak bemoaned the “hospital pass” he had been handed by his predecessors when he became PM in 2022.

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Donald Trump Says Arizona’s Near-Total Abortion Ban Ruling Went Too Far

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Donald Trump said the Arizona Supreme Court overstepped when it ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old law criminalizing most abortions can go into effect.

Asked by reporters outside his plane Wednesday in Georgia if the ruling in Arizona “went too far”, Trump replied: “Yeah they did, and that will be straightened out.”

“As you know, it’s all about states’ rights,” he continued, saying he believes Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) will “bring it back into reason”. He did not explain what he thought a reasonable restriction would be.

His remarks echo a murky statement he made on abortion days earlier that left voters wondering whether he would support a federal ban pushed by members of his party. But shortly after speaking to reporters outside his plane, Trump said he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban if elected.

Arizona’s 1864 law is a near-total ban on abortion at every stage of pregnancy that only makes exceptions to save the pregnant person’s life, overriding a 15-week ban that went into effect in 2022. Abortion providers who violate the law could face two to five years in prison.

The law does not immediately go into effect, as the Arizona court stayed it for 14 days to allow a lower court to hear additional arguments.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes vowed Tuesday that she would not enforce such an “unconscionable” and “draconian law” during her term even if the law were to be enacted.

“Today’s decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn’t a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn’t even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Mayes said in a statement. “This is far from the end of the debate on reproductive freedom, and I look forward to the people of Arizona having their say in the matter.”

A coalition of reproductive rights groups is spearheading an effort to ask the residents of Arizona to vote on adding an amendment protecting abortion to the state’s constitution. They said last week they’ve collected enough signatures for the amendment to appear on the ballot this November.

Trump’s remarks come two days after he issued a vague statement on abortion rights, seemingly responding to pressure he clarify his stance on the issue before officially becoming the GOP nominee for president. In a video he posted to social networking site Truth Social, Trump took credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and said he thinks abortion rights should remain up to the states.

“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint. The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state,” he said in the video.

Though he clarified Wednesday he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban, he’s yet to offer an opinion on attempts to limit access to the drug mifepristone ― the most common method of terminating pregnancies.

Following Trump’s statements Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s campaign emphasised that Trump cannot be trusted on abortion and questioned the veracity of his promise not to sign a national abortion ban.

“Trump lies constantly ― about everything ― but has one track record: banning abortion every chance he gets,” communications director Michael Tyler said. “The guy who wants to be a dictator on day one will use every tool at his disposal to ban abortion nationwide, with or without Congress, and running away from reporters to his private jet like a coward doesn’t change that reality.”

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Trump Spokesperson Hilariously Self-Owns While Trying To Insult Joe Biden

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A spokesperson for Donald Trump tried to attack President Joe Biden as someone who “can hardly speak,” but then struggled herself with a couple of words.

She repeated the non-word moments later.

“It also was extremely damn-en-ing to him politically as it showed what the American people see with their own eyes every single day, and that is Joe Biden can hardly speak,” she said.

Leavitt also referred to Attorney General Merrick Garland as “Merricka Garland.”

Former Justice Department officials have slammed Hur for what seemed more like a personal attack on the president than a report explaining the case.

On Tuesday, critics mocked Leavitt for stumbling over words herself as she claimed Biden “can hardly speak.”

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President Biden Says Netanyahu Is Making A ‘Mistake’ In Gaza

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President Joe Biden said in a new interview he does not agree with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing attacks in Gaza, issuing some of his harshest critique of the country’s war with Hamas so far.

“I will tell you, I think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden said of his Israeli counterpart in an interview with Univision’s Enrique Acevedo that aired Tuesday. “I don’t agree with his approach.”

The change in tone represents a dramatic shift in the US policy following Hamas’ October 7 attack in Israel that left 1,200 people dead. Israel’s assault in Gaza has since stretched more than six months, leaving at least 32,000 Palestinians dead.

The White House had resisted outright criticism of Netanyahu’s efforts while urging Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement, despite the war’s growing civilian toll. But that support changed last week following the deaths of seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen, who were killed in an Israel air strike after delivering food in Gaza.

Biden has since warned Netanyahu that future US support will be contingent on the protection of civilians, calling the ongoing humanitarian crisis “unacceptable.”

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The president re-upped his calls for a cease-fire in the Univision interview, which was recorded last week just days after the aid workers were killed. Israel has taken responsibility for their deaths.

“I think it’s outrageous that those … vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway where it wasn’t like it was along the shore, it wasn’t like there was a convoy moving there,” he said. “What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a cease-fire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country.”

The president added the US had spoken to countries in the region who were prepared to move in food and other humanitarian aid.

“And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people,” Biden added. “It should be done now.”

Israel approved the opening of a border crossing in northern Gaza for the first time since October 7 following Biden’s call with Netanyahu.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas needed to accept a new cease-fire deal brokered by the U.S. that would include the release of hostages. But Hamas has yet to respond to the proposal, and U.S. officials have said the group’s public statements so far “have been less than encouraging.”

In the Univision interview, Biden also slammed his predecessor and 2024 Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, calling him the greatest threat to the nation. He pointed to Trump’s behaviour surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which has resulted in a multi-pronged federal indictment.

“The idea that he would sit in the office … and watch for hours the attack on the capitol and the destruction and the mayhem and the people who were killed, the police officers who died, and call them political heroes? Call them patriots…” Biden said. “I can’t think of any other time in my lifetime that you’ve had somebody who’s had this kind of attitude.”

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